City of Heroes: A Tale of Three Heroes
by umjackd
Summary: Set in the universe in the MMORPG City of Heroes, three heroes find their destinies bound together in an adventure which takes them beyond their imaginations.
1. Foreshadow of Champion

City of Heroes is copyright Cryptic Studios and NCSoft.  
  
Authors note: This story focuses on my three main characters in the MMORPG City of Heroes. The three heroes are on 3 different servers, and these are represented by different dimensions where the world is the same but the people are not. See for more information on areas, villain types, and any CoH jargon which I use which you might not understand. The principle enemy described here has been created entirely by myself, though is based loosely upon a mix of actual CoH villain groups added to my own imagination. For screenshots of my heroes and the subsequent characters in this story, go to and search their names.  
  
One concept brought out here in more vague terms than may be described elsewhere is of the auto-teleport. Upon defeat in the game players are given the option to be teleported to a hospital for revival, or to wait for a fellow hero to revive them on the spot. This has been described as a practical use of technology leftover from a recent alien invasion (fought off by the heroes no less), and hence is powerful enough to prevent most villains from interfering. Hence, as standard equipment each registered hero is equipped with this in order to 'save lives' and protect heroes from mortal danger.  
  
Oh, and sorry about the lack of dialogue, I'm working on how I'd go about doing that the right way in my sort of style.  
  
A Tale of Three Heroes  
  
Three dimensions, three Heroes, three cities.  
  
All in fact one, all in fact separate.  
  
This is Paragon City and its surrounding universe, through the eyes of three heroes.  
  
Part 1: Foreshadow of Champion  
  
The man who became the Famous Foreshadow could have been anyone. The fact that the somewhat new entity known as Foreshadow remembers nothing of his personal life reminds him of this fact every day. He does not remember how he knows how to do what he does, nor why he even does it. He exists only to do, and in so doing, learn more about what he has become, and perhaps, if the opportunity presents itself, learn about who he was. On his Super-Hero Registration Card, he is classified as a Science origin Controller. Scientific analysis has shown that his abilities were in fact artificially placed. Whether or not this was of his own will, is again, like everything else, up to question.  
  
Flying high above Steel Canyon, Foreshadow felt the currents of the movements of molecular vibrations within the air. This is what grants him flight, pseudo-control over gravity and the manipulation of air currents into protective fields. This unique perception allows him to see beyond what others can, and hence the name, Foreshadow. Steel Canyon was being its usual self, bustling with business, crime, greatly evil acts, greatly good acts and so on and so on. He could see Heroes battling criminals beneath him, Villains battling each other in the streets, and occasionally, something even more sinister was happening. Tonight Foreshadow was looking in particular for something sinister. Early in his heroic career, the sheer volumes of information his senses carried to him would push his capacity to organize, indeed, his awakening consisted more of insanity than anything else. As he learned control, he learned to focus his senses onto particular areas, instead of letting the world crush him. At times like these however, he needed to see as much as possible.  
  
Having recently been tipped off about unique scientific experiments by mysterious groupings, Foreshadow was taking this opportunity to see if his suspicions about this were true, and if it led to any insight whatsoever as to how he came to be. It wasn't long before he saw a sign. There. A hero in trouble. Perceiving a fallen hero with a broken auto-teleport 400 yards away, Foreshadow stealthily flew to the area wary for any watchers or ambushes which might come from this evidently dangerous foe. The hero was being kidnapped, another pique to his suspicions. Foreshadow held little sympathy for this hero, no doubt he would be replaced by another within due time, but for the time being, he served his needs. There were few other heroes Foreshadow sympathized with, or even got along with, and those were the select few who had an inkling of what this broken mind consisted of.  
  
The kidnappers were making no secret of their getaway, and several heroes jumped into the fight to try to stop the rampage. The typical hero patrolling Steel Canyon however, was seemingly impotent to the technology and capabilities of this enemy. This then rounded down possibilities. Crey Industries had the capacity to attempt something like this, as well as the record to show it wasn't averse from it. The Rikti were also an option with their level of technology and their particular interest in heroes, though even this was a bit brash for them. But then again, it could be anyone, a mystery. This, Foreshadow planned to change. The armored car carrying the hero was making its way to the sewer network entrance. Could it be the Lost? It seemed doubtful. This group was too organized to be the mutated horde. Breaking through lines of nearby heroes and Paragon Security forces in a bang-up reaction to the threat, the car slammed into the wire-link fence right by the sewer entrance. Here some of the kidnappers made a stand to cover the others carrying the possibly doomed hero into the sewers.  
  
It was in this moment that Foreshadow took his choices actively into hand. Calculating that the most efficient course of action would be to let the forces around him fight it out while he followed the kidnapped hero, he dove into the fray. Flying through the line of mysteriously powerful fighters within a protective field, he attracted enough fire to allow the other forces a chance to move in, gaining an upper hand. He didn't stop to help however, focusing his senses entirely onto his target area. North. Boomtown. They were using the sewers to bypass the guarded hazard gate. With the mess that Boomtown is, it would be nigh impossible to get another chance like this. All this speculation of course, never went through his mind in the single-minded objective he sought tonight.  
  
It was then that he noticed the strange traits of the enemy combatants. They wore advanced armor which easily matched what technological heroes could muster. However, while armor-sporting heroes had custom-built their weaponry and were unique, these seemed to have come off an assembly line and every minion was wearing standardized equipment, each able to hold off powerful heroes. They used military tactics, and were brave enough to sacrifice themselves for an objective, in this case the kidnapping of this hero. These were clearly a force to be reckoned with. Now with even greater caution than before, Foreshadow kept his senses strained to follow at a comfortable distance deeper into the sewers, and north to Boomtown.  
  
Boomtown was once known as Baumton, and was ground zero of the original Rikti invasion. A wasteland full of the wrecked hulls of buildings, leaning skyscrapers, trashcan fires, and decaying statues, this is what all the city could have been if not for the valiant sacrifices of the heroes of that past day. Now it was a center for many sorts of villainous types, hiding in the wreckage, scavenging, training… A Hazard Zone, where no civilian lives or travels to, and only heroes of sufficient skill were allowed into. Risky to some, but more pacified these days.  
  
Suddenly his senses went wild with the shock wave he felt from what seemed like a rift in space-time. Some essential part of his being seemed to take over as he threw caution to the wind and flew straight into it, and into the unknown. 


	2. Iron Tower of Liberty

Part 2: Iron Tower of Liberty  
  
The mutant known as The Magnificent Iron Tower was musing one day. He was imagining a world where there were no super-heroes, no super-villains, nothing which would make any single individual particularly special over another. All of humanity living, prospering, dying, killing... It doesn't seem that different after all. Laughing, he supposed that if such a world existed they would still look to super-heroes within their own imaginations. Imagine all the interesting stories they would come up with for these idols to encounter. In his experience, the life of a super-hero was a lot more monotonous than it seemed. It was just like any other job, except with higher risks, and much greater responsibility. It was with this in mind that he leaped off a wrecked skyscraper in Boomtown into a crowd of Outcasts below.  
  
The Outcasts for him were a fun group really. An elemental gang on the brink of being super-powered but lacking organization and ability to really make anything more of themselves than thieves and vandals. In fact, for fun he liked to take his more powerful form during free-fall. Just for kicks he said. Other heroes would shake their heads, or laugh along with him, but in his opinion he was just as much playing around as flying heroes are when they catch themselves bare inches from impact. Ahh the impact, his favorite part, was just coming up.  
  
The Iron Tower is known as a particularly daring and powerful mutant hero. Born with the innate ability to manipulate his body into nearly impenetrable organic steel (labeled a Colossus type to some) he was potentially invulnerable. These powers were what made him seek to be a hero, to reach his limits and always be on adventure. The job of course got dreary from time to time, but it was always fun to charge headlong into a gang of would-be evildoers who, try as they might, couldn't hurt him. It was this risk-taking attitude which earned him a degree of respect with other heroes, even though they knew it didn't stem from a desire to do good as much as a desire to see how far he could go. Nevertheless, he'd saved their skins many a time, and often enough to ram home; they had been there to save his too.  
  
He wasn't always this way of course. As with every mutant, for much of his childhood he seemed just as human as any other. During his mid-teen years his mutant power developed suddenly in an auto-accident which orphaned him. Surviving the crash by instinctively becoming steel, the shock overwhelmed him. Coping with his gift along with the deaths of his family was truly overbearing, and it was after this phase that he decided that this gift had saved him for something greater. Life was not something to be squandered, so he made the most adventurous decision of his life. And years later, he was the product.  
  
Back to the point, the Iron Tower slammed into the ground below him, the shock wave and debris from the impact knocking back his foes. He did enjoy Boomtown for the level of damage he was actually allowed to inflict in this wasteland left over from the Rikti War. The stunned Outcasts, disoriented, peered into the gloom to see, well, a gigantic figure. The word Tower did indeed fit. They soon learned about the Iron. A punch here, a jab there, a slamming haymaker to one poor Shocker knocked through the air, and a flinch from the impact of a boulder coming from a Brick. He decided that if he were to fight these weaker mobs, he would give them the benefit of thinking they were in a fair fight. This would have been much easier to do were he not famous. Risk taking did make the name bigger in the headlines.  
  
Once all was quiet aside from the background noise of what was once Baumton, Iron Tower signaled Paragon Security to take yet another gang into custody. And that was when he heard the unmistakable cry for help. It wasn't just any cry for help, but one by a fellow hero. First grumbling at the prospect of babysitting yet another inexperienced hero who'd pushed too far back to the gate, his moral stature came out first to aid another in need. Quickly leaping over to where he heard the call, he was shocked to see a desperate battle of some heroes who counted as close friends against truly daunting foes. He saw Delirium, a scrapper fighting desperately to knock down just one overpowering foe with a flurry of attacks. He saw Neon Angel, green hair flowing as she attempted to support Delirium in his rather difficult task, at the same time dodging incoming attacks.  
  
It was at this moment that his auto-teleport fizzed and died. The tool basic to every hero's arsenal had just failed, and understanding came to him into just how desperate this battle was. At the same time he feared just how powerful these enemies were, to put Rikti-based technology effectively out of business. With only the concern for his friends in his mind now he leaped into the fray, smashing straight into the mysterious enemy Delirium had been beating on. It was then that he found that towers could be topped. A huge machine-like.. well... 'thing' faced him. He couldn't tell whether it was a human in a suit or robotic. Regardless it really put the T in towering and I in Iron. Not about to be cheated out of his personal space, he sent his own hits into the frame along with Deliriums. He, like Delirium earlier, was just as surprised to find the damage he caused to the armor disappear within moments. With no better option than to hit as hard and fast as possible to hopefully inflict enough damage within a short time, possibly to cumulatively defeat this monstrous creation, he continued to hammer at it. With short breaths he asked the others as to how they'd gotten here. They were merely patrolling in Boomtown to discover these mysteries dragging a fallen hero out from the sewers. As their auto-teleports failed they were sucked into combat and have had pretty much no other option than to stick it out and hope for the best.  
  
During the fight he managed some analysis of the thing, and this was some truly monstrous thing. It seemed to be a huge robot designed for combat with heroes. Multiple arms coupled with an aerodynamic frame evidently made for easy flight and combat in the air. However, the frame was humanoid enough that it could be a huge power suit. Each arm held different weapons, some ranged, some purely for close combat. The latter were in use here. It moved swiftly, without the mechanical jerkiness of the clockwork, unrestricted by rusty joints, this thing was obviously state of the art, and beyond the abilities of any one hero to subdue.  
  
Registering the new threat, the villain(?) focused its attacks upon Iron Tower to gauge his strengths and weaknesses. The impact of immensely powerful weaponry on his metal body took all his endurance to withstand as he pushed himself to keep attacking. However, it was a sudden move from one of the things arms which slammed into him like a bullet train which sent him flailing through the air. Disoriented as he waited to hit the ground, the only thing on his mind was how this was just a less enjoyable version of those lovable impacts with the ground. He was, of course very surprised to notice himself no longer moving in the air. One would think that in a city of heroes and villains one would get used to unusual things happening, but you could suppose that in his life of falling rather stylishly, not actually falling in itself could be shocking. He was in fact, floating in mid-air. Desperately looking around to see if that thing had somehow trapped him for a harsher fate, he then saw that a mysterious other hero had emerged from hiding to catch him in mid air. The smaller figure was hovering near him, arm out-stretched, hand in a gesture which revealed his powers, as invisible forces held Iron Tower there in mid-air. There was a strange understanding between the two, not one known between fellow heroes, nor friends, nor capable enemies. Something of more cosmic strati was at work here. This was how Iron Tower knew the strangers plan, and this was how Foreshadow knew this large fellow approved.  
  
With all the force he could muster, Foreshadow used his powers to launch Iron Tower back into the fray, fists first, right into what Foreshadow's perceptions had judged to be the pseudo-nerve center of the thing. Combine a powerful method of propulsion with a virtually invulnerable object becomes a very dangerous projectile. Shattering the armor plate and slamming into the nerve center and effectively disabling it from harming his friends, they all discovered that it was neither truly machine nor human, but cyborg. Its human brain encased within the armor died outside of its neuro-gel and the machine armor slumped to the ground. Iron Tower, Delirium and Neon Angel then looked at each other with fear and confusion in their eyes, but had no words. Foreshadow landed amongst them, to tell them that they all were just at the tip of the iceberg, and that the answers they sought lay in following him. In good sense and well deserved fear for their lives, Neon Angel and Delirium stayed behind. Iron Tower knew innately that his connection with this stranger would no doubt play a part in the struggle to come, following him off somewhere where he never imagined he would be, let alone exist. 


	3. Dark Husk of Protector

Part 3: Dark Husk of Protector  
  
Happiness. This was where she was. Despite all the horrors of the last several years and the seemingly unending plague of misfortunes which Paragon City has faced, she was happy, felt safe, and had every reason to be. The new inflow of heroes everyone was seeing was sure to protect her and everyone she loved. Of course, then everything suddenly became hot, she felt a force, piercing, and then blackness. And that was when she woke up. Every night, the same nightmare. Her real live nightmare. It was a good thing that tonight she didn't see all of it like she used to. That way tonight she didn't scream waking up. Everything she had ever loved, gone, in an instant. First part of yet another gang war between the skulls and hellions they told her. It all seemed so pointless, and she thought that life could not get any worse. This was after she found out about her organ damage, that she was chained up to numerous life support devices just to keep her heart going. And then the Vahzilok got to her. The zombie-like cadavers and sheer abominations managed to assault her hospital and steal her arms - her arms! - before being forced out. Like many other heroes, this loss spurred her to action. With her substantial remaining savings she funded construction of a unique exoskeleton to maintain her organ functions, and outfitted her customized robotic arms with the accessories necessary to take her fight personally into the fray. Hence, she became the Dark Husk, with nothing left inside her but loss, pain, and outright cold rage. With her suit becoming somewhat of a blessing for her newly enhanced strength, endurance, speed and senses, and the truly expensive claws which cut through pretty much everything, Kings Row would never be the same. This was her kitchen, and she was the cook.  
  
Kings Row was the city zone where most different kinds of villainous groupings appeared. The Lost, Skulls, Circle of Thorns, Clockwork and Vahzilok all made large incursions into the area. Of course, it was the Skulls and Vahzilok which interested her most. Death worshiping gangsters and zombies following a pseudo Dr. Frankenstein had stolen her life from her, and she only existed now to do the same to them, though a bit more literally. She did enjoy her work really, more than she probably should have as a hero, but the city needed her more than they upheld certain ideals, so here she was. She never did bother with calling Paragon Security to beam any crooks out, it was more appropriate to have them in the hospital. It wasn't like they'd be going anywhere with several lacerations, missing limbs and severe bleeding from several arteries. Later generations may be glad of the fact that none of these villains would ever have children after encountering her.  
  
Kings Row was really quite under her league actually. She could take a mob here single handedly, but it was her center, and always will be no matter where else her work takes her. However, lately she'd been noticing that local gangs had been carrying significantly more powerful hardware. New heroes entering the zone were having a much harder time than before, and here she was, trying to find out why. The Lost, always sporting Rikti tech, were suddenly wearing tougher armor, scraps really, but with the mysterious ability to repair damage done within moments of taking that damage. A healing armor. Upon first hearing this, she'd hunted many Lost, stealing those scraps of armor to complement her own, so now, she had self healing armor, though she was still at a loss as to how it worked in the first place. Knowing the Lost had a certain preference to the sewers, Husk knew that she would eventually have to venture into the Underworld there. She needed some sort of lead however, and the Lost were hardly reliable if captured.  
  
With nothing left to go on, and deciding that there was pretty much no other way around it, she ventured into the sewers, the stealth enhancement of her armor activated. As much as she enjoyed slicing swathes through her enemies, this was one situation where discretion would be useful. Therefore, she only hunted stragglers tonight. Noticing a trend in the Lost's weaponry, she followed a trail of increasingly powerful foes north, to Boomtown. Boomtown, the wasteland. If there were anywhere which truly looked like where a nuke went off, that would be it. An army could hide in there easily, and in ways, several armies did. The sheer numbers of 5th Column training platoons to be found there are shocking. This of course is not to mention the hordes of other gangs which call it home. She enjoyed darker places however, true cities where she could hide herself in the forest of concrete, steel and asphalt. Still, this was where she was heading. Suddenly, there was heat, a blast, and before blackness fell yet again, she saw her auto-teleport fizz and die.  
  
Half expecting to wake up again looking forward to the fact that she wasn't screaming, she woke up, well, trapped. Latched into holding which she couldn't break out of in strength, nor use her claws to help her in any way, she decided to hope that the Vahzilok weren't about to take her legs. Her organs weren't useful to them anyway. In fact, she was even musing as to what enhancements she could use on robotic legs, assuming of course that she survived all of this. Maybe a piledriving mechanism which would enhance her jumping even more, so that she could make significant leaps. Interesting. As she looked around her, she saw numbers of other heroes held in similar ways, so as to contain their powers specifically, and decided that if this were indeed the Vahzilok, this would be where they cut up and used body parts from fallen heroes to form into their pretty hideous 'Abominations'. The place looked too clean though, so she had her suspicions. The technology available was also stunning from merely what she could see. Vahzilok typically used bladed weapons, primitive if still effective. Advanced weaponry was beyond their ability to operate. She then began to have fear for the first time since seeing the cadavers approaching her hospital ward all that time ago. However the Lost had been receiving their new equipment, this was the source. Now was one of those ever so rare times she wished she were back in Kings Row frustratingly responding to the endless calls of new heroes asking where they could find Vahzilok or Lost. Really, she was that scared.  
  
Her fear could only increase as some heroes were taken away, not to return to this room at least. As the room emptied, the mysteriously dark armored villains pulled in a single replacement. She noticed something quite different about this one. Perhaps it was her helmets sensors, but she felt a strange distortion, that this hero was from.. Somewhere else. Not just any 'somewhere else' like half the heroes in existence, but really somewhere else. She of course, had very little idea what that meant. Then, she began to notice amongst all the other heroes, varying signatures of that buzzy feeling. Some were like this ones, but most others had all different kinds. She registered approximately ten different kinds of signatures, including hers and some heroes she recognized. It didn't take much to realize that each signature group of heroes came from a specific somewhere, a dimension for example, and that these captors had the technology to travel between them. Portal Corporation? That was closed down long ago. Did someone have access to the test sites and labs? Was she on the offshore island of the disastrous final test? Oh, she realized, it was another 'so many questions, so few answers' situation. She hoped it wouldn't become one where the answers only led to more questions. She really did tire of those, which led to many bodies in her wake.  
  
It wasn't long before she began hearing shouts, screams, explosions and such. It sounded very much like a rescue operation, she told the hero next to her who was asking. Poor fellow, this relatively new hero had never even seen the green explosions of sacrifices made by the Circle of Thorns. Of course, she herself was waiting to experience what must surely be thrilling encounters with the dive bombing Sky Raiders. Then there was blackness, one she could be happy with. The power was down and the restraining clamps lost the energy within them which kept her strength in check. Ripping herself from the holding, she slashed through her neighbor's clamps. She learned he was the Angel Reborn. In any case, out came his sword, out came her claws, and they worked to free all the other heroes in captivity. Afterwards, would come the door, and freedom. 


	4. Limbo

Part 4: Limbo  
  
A group of some dozen or so heroes charged out to find themselves in quite another world altogether. The sky swirled a plethora of blues and greens, and the door they had opened led to a rock platform which seemed to float in space. Looking around, other platforms held various technological gates, presumably through which these captors brought their captives. Each platform was linked by bridges and lifts, and each had its own installation. What they could see stretched out seemingly forever, with these floating rocks stretching out like so much debris. One might call this Limbo, the dimension between dimensions. Then there was a prickle down Dark Husks spine, she sensed, with her own instinct rather than her artificial sensors, two specific presences. Turning, she saw two figures, one of average build and eyes which held nothing, but showed such power it was gripping, the other a huge metallic figure who towered over many of those around her. Though they were fighting for all they were worth, she could feel that they had sensed her too, and beckoned her help. She charged in with immense speed and attacked with such ferocity it put the single cyborg form off guard, with enough time for her to penetrate the armor protecting the brain inside, skewering it on her claws. How she knew to do this, she knew through the one she now knew as Foreshadow, there was no explanation and neither needed any. The freed heroes who'd accompanied her had followed her into the fray, despite the simple fear which came from facing huge villains. However, they were indeed heroes for a reason and did their part to deal substantial damage. Some had powers which allowed them to exploit this newfound weakness, piercing the armor fast enough to penetrate the vitals, while the others did what they could to support them.  
  
At the moment the entire objective was to rescue any hero currently held. There were simply too many for those heroes present to handle. If more could be freed, perhaps the tide of battle could be turned, but there weren't any more. They were outnumbered by far. Foreshadows frustration at the chance to perhaps discover if he had been created here made him push himself just a little too far, collapsing under the strain of searching and searching with his senses. Evidently there was something special about this trio which had pre-destined them to this conflict, since Foreshadow's fall had triggered something in space-time. The gateway to his dimension flashed with the entry of heroes such as Zhang Junyi, The Pariahs Lullaby, Firedance, White Wasp, Deveon and more as they continued to flow in. This gave the lower level heroes a chance to run. The Third Horseman would let loose with a volley of bullets as The Pariahs Lullaby swung his mace in a wide arc sweeping hard into the armored torso plate into the soft nerve center beneath. Firedance would then teleport the dead hulk high above the battlefield to drop it far below. With this inflow of heroes, Iron Tower and Dark Husk found it within themselves to began reaching within and make a dramatic call for help. Nanuk, Megan, Delirium, Neon Angel and Satine charged through from Iron Tower's. Kraven, Zappo, Frostwire and others from Dark Husk's. There were enough heroes now to turn the tide from a running battle to the portals to an encirclement of the main platform. Leaping and flying from platform to platform, heroes knocked down cymek after cymek, disabling static defenses and fortifications. Some would be knocked down to be revived by others, but with such a multitude of protective shields and healing auras overlapping each other maintaining a steady battle line in the heroes there was no slowing down.  
  
Foreshadow awoke to watching several tankers charge into a fray, scrappers following closely in on their heels under cover of fireballs, icicles and energy blasts. Surrounding them were force fields as rifle grenades landed in volleys in time to catch foes on the ground. Ahead of them were several cyborgs, a mix of having their armor crushed under gravitic strain, flailing about under the mental confusion and pain from telepaths, or having the elements rebel against them as fire, ice, wind and earth trapped and weakened them. The tankers charged straight into them in this state, slamming into them, burning, smashing into visible weak spots while the scrappers tore into them with a lightning fast flurry of assaults. Above them the sky rained fire and ice as storm winds threw would-be threats away into the abyss beyond. Foreshadow noticed cars, pool tables, forklifts and other heavy objects fly through the air over him as they pulled apart defenses and cyborg weaponry. In some areas the cyborgs began to fight back with a vengeance. Cannons dwarfing Rikti technology pounded away at defensive shields, huge blades and blunt weapons emerged from cyborg exo-skeletons to tear up and crush heroes. Static platform defenses worked cohesively with laser fences and proximity mines as rockets flew away and blasters concentrated their fire on isolated heroes. With more cyborgs came reserve troops in dark powered armor wielding heavy pulse rifles moving out in formations to make even the 5th Column fearful. Manning bunkers and trench-works they began opening fire, pushing new numbers into the battle. Others charged into the line of heroes with large melee weapons, firing their rifles on the advance before clashing with the tankers and scrappers, freezing the attack.  
  
Foreshadow rose, flew up and towards the line while Iron Tower put heavy force behind a clap to knock back his attackers. They got back up to find themselves stuck into the ground as Dark Husk swept her claws through their legs for a summoned heavy truck to slam into them, flinging them into the minefields and laser fences. Chaos was indeed all about while this last push was made on the central complex. With this late a deployment of the reserves, it was quite possible that they were stalling for some way to win the battle, or to go down fighting as best they could. To do this, they needed more, and to get there faster. Foreshadow had an instinct, an unusual feeling for him really, that the secrets behind who he was lay here. It was with this that he pushed himself forward, straining his control to unleash more and more power. He would launch volleys of objects at formations, blades slashing and trucks smashing, while letting loose with force to repel those close by off into the unknown. Manipulating the molecular forces around him, he redirected bullets and rockets to their origins, and pulled energy blasts to roll and caused flames to die around him. He would let nothing stall him now. In concern for their comrade, other heroes fought harder to create an enveloping wedge with Foreshadow at the lead and Iron Tower and Dark Husk at his sides. With him came a wave of gravitic force, lifting some up in feather-like weight to be pulled back with an asteroids mass. Those he didn't catch were smashed by the Tower or torn apart by the Husk.  
  
At long last, they reached the final gate which barred the rest of the platform from the towering citadel ahead. Foreshadows unrelenting charge had gone beyond his control and slammed into the fortification, tearing the high walls into the ground. Final defenses opened up and the last enemy reserves deployed. Many didn't last long, finding themselves weightless as they were knocked out into the distance from heavy hits, some slamming into other defenses with weight beyond their own. Foreshadows charge was enhancing the advance of heroes a hundred fold, sweeping all before the assaulting wave. Ripping apart the outer blast doors, the heroes charged in, numbers swelling with more and more coming from the portals, being teleported to the front lines as soon as they were arriving. Every hero who arrived charged the advance further. Colorful costumes became a wave. Inside the citadel, the remaining cyborgs and garrisons put up a fierce fight, making the heroes fight furiously for every metre of ground gained in ambushes, traps and in the desperation of trapped animals with no option left but to die as best they could. The charge had lost its momentum, though not the advance.  
Foreshadow at the moment was quite literally overwhelmed with power. He was near his full potential, using his powers beyond any level that he used to, however strangely without the pain of too much happening within him. Here he was at peace despite the battle raging around him, and his substantial part of it. Something in him also recognized the place. It was through a strange instinct, something beyond human memory but he somehow knew that he, in some way, had been here before. There was no doubt that answers lay here. It's unsurprising that ideas of destiny were going through the trio's minds. While fate was an increasingly unpopular explanation for such coincidences, there could be no denial of something special happening, and the strange bond that the three felt. Despite all the death and agony which surely must have surrounded him and had affected many others, he was immune. There was suffering everywhere, but he found it harder and harder to find the human emotion and compassion within him to let it affect him. The new control over his immense power surely had something to do with it, but the answers, he somehow knew, lay just ahead.  
  
The small army of heroes surged through the main corridors, splitting off into teams to cover multiple corridors. The trio also split to fight with comrades they knew personally. Iron Tower left with the super-team Paragon Order, as Neon Angel brought the others from the team to lead in one direction. Foreshadow's super-team Elite was hardly represented, but fell in with close veterans of his past battles and adventures. Dark Husk simply ran in with anyone from her dimension, keeping behind the tankers, claws out and at the ready.  
  
Paragon Order struck straight into the heart of a heavy counter-attack, facing many of the toughest foes, some who had fallen back from the battles outside, some who had used the time to erect defenses and organize this apparent last stand. Cyborgs stayed forward to be bait while the soldiers manned heavy weaponry, many salvoes firing away. However, with the force fields thrown around the powerful super-team precious few shots actually penetrated, and Iron Tower was first to lay his fist on the nearest cyborg. Quickly following it fire and ice rained from above and a scrapper's spines were launched into the cyborg, penetrating the armored shell and poisoning the fragile brain within.  
  
At that moment Dark Husk was in another corridor. Feeling a little outclassed by the other heroes she took every advantage to throw herself into risk and danger, though the greater benefits were seen afterwards for taking those risks. As soon as a tanker sliced his fire sword into one of a cyborg's arms, Dark Husk was there, diving into the now unprotected flank to stab into the center. Her new armor protecting her as it repaired any outer damage she then leapt straight into the next group of soldiers, spinning with her claws extended, tearing through armor and flesh, done and ready for more before they even collapsed to the ground.  
  
Foreshadow moved much more quickly than the other two, sweeping through the corridors, pulling anything and everything from the walls and surfaces to smash into enemies. No one could get near, being repelled by his repulsion field, and blasters used the opportunity to fire from within, safe from harm. Flying in a circular formation around him, blasting any opposition, with tankers and scrappers cleaning up behind them, there was certainly nothing to stop them. He reached the central dais first, ripping open the blast doors to be suddenly overcome with nothingness and awareness at the same time. He was no longer he, he was it. Whatever was human in him before was pushed aside into the background, and suddenly it was aware of everything again. Suddenly it began to remember.  
  
It had seen everything now, it could remember everything now, from the very beginning to the minute it was brought to this, place. There were the cosmos, the dimensions, the universes, all of which it was aware. And there was this place. The hallway to all of them. It remembered being taken, for the first time in all time. This group here in this most sacred of places had taken it. How? The device before it. A temporary trap until something more permanent could be devised. The contraption could not last long enough, and it escaped, out there. At that point it found three powerful emanations, three in great pain and struggle but with strength enough to harbor it. One, a mutant frozen in shock of tragedy. Another a crippled human. And the last.... the last evaded it now. It was obvious who this was, and so it brought out the sheltered consciousness that was his shell.  
  
Now would be the time to find out, to discover, everything. Pushing its own consciousness aside to watch the one lying dormant awaken, it braced for what surely would be a degree of panic. In its minds eye it saw itself, in its human shell, floating dormantly. A little nudge and his eyes popped open, predictably, in panic. Other heroes at that point saw Foreshadow suddenly turn, his face in abject fear. Questions began stuttering from him, even as the answers flowed into him with the force of a crashing wave, memories streaming from the consciousness he wasn't even aware of yet. It was being careful of course, only releasing memories of what had transgressed since its possession...  
  
Iron Tower and Dark Husk felt the void immediately, something missing, their connection in hiding. Drawn however to the same point, they rushed to the central dais. They saw Foreshadow, or so they believed, but without the strength and emptiness of before. And there they felt an onrush of memories as the real Foreshadow, the spirit, apparition, cosmic being, whatever name you called it, shared itself with them. In those moments of pain, in their pasts, they had a divine spark, something which marked a destiny for them which was apparent to this thing when it had last been here.  
  
The group basing itself here, the power-seeking dimension-travelers, had pursued it. In their quest for cosmic power, they sought it out, captured it… How did they do that? It was still a mystery. It could see where it had been held, the caging prison device… But no way in which it could have been captured. No matter. It was aware now, and the backbone of this insidious operation was shattered… by these impressive creatures, all surrounding it now. There is no wonder that all three of its escape routes, escaping into the body of one of these three individuals during a weak point in their lives, all originated at Paragon City. In a City of Heroes, indeed, there is unlimited potential. This one now… This one it had arrived within… Why him? It peered into his mind, and saw his last memories… 


End file.
